Wang Linkai

Biography

Wang Linkai (Chinese: 王琳凯; born 20 May 1999), commonly known by his stage name Xiao Gui (Chinese: 小鬼; pinyin: Xiǎo Guǐ; Lil Ghost in English), is a Chinese rapper and singer-songwriter who creates rap as his main form of musical expression. He began his career as a contestant on the rap competition show The Rap of China in 2017. The following year, Wang rose to fame after joining the reality survival show Idol Producer debuting as a member of Chinese boy band Nine Percent. After the group's disbandment in 2019, Wang began his solo career.

Personal life

Wang was born in Haiyang City, Yantai, Shandong Province on 20 May 1999, and grew up in Xiamen City, Fujian Province. He is currently studying at Beijing Contemporary Music Academy.
His father was a military officer, and his mother was a member of the art corps of the army, so Wang grew up in the army when he was young. He became interested in hip-hop at the age of 12 or 13, and later went to school in Beijing.

2016–2019: Rap of China and Idol Producer

Wang signed with Gramarie Entertainment as a trainee. In 2017, Wang participated in iQiYi’s self-made hip-hop reality show The Rap of China, where he won the top 70 in the country and officially began his career in the entertainment industry. In the same year, Wang signed a contract with iQiYi's brokerage company was Guoran Sky. Later that year, he starred in a music video of Will Pan, a judge on the show, and released his first single with fellow contestant J.zen (朱星傑) titled "Bingo!Ca$h".
In January 2018, Wang participated in iQiYi's reality show Idol Producer; he finished in the 8th place with a total of 7,856,601 votes and debuted as a member of Nine Percent. On 20 November, Nine Percent's first music album "TO THE NINES" was released.
In March 2019, Wang participated as a regular cast on an iQiYi's RV reality show, Flower Road (青春的花路). On 11 May, he attended Music Pioneer Awards's 30th Year Three Class Grand Award Ceremony, where he won the Best Newcomer Artist of 2018 as well as the Most Popular Artist of 2018. Wang released his first personal EP Lil Ghost 2.0 on 20 May. In August, he won the Newcomer of the Year Recommended by All Media award and his song "Good Night" was named among the Golden Melodies of the Year at the Global Chinese Pop Chart Awards held at Beijing National Stadium.
On 26 September 2019, Nine Percent's second and last album More Than Forever (限定的记忆) was released before the group officially graduated and disbanded on 6 October. Wang performed alongside Nine Percent in Guangzhou for Nine Percent's final concert on 12 October. The Nine Percent members then shifted to solo careers.

2020–present: Solo career activities

In March 2020, Wang joined Zhejiang Satellite TV music program Sound from Heaven. On 8 April, he released his second EP From M to W. In June, he participated in Mango TV's rap music variety show Rap Star. and the variety show Crossover Singer. On 17 October, Wang participated in the virtual character talent show Dimension Nova. On
8 November, he joined the Oriental TV's intergenerational tidal performance variety show China Dream Voice Our Song Season 2.
In 2021, Wang released a number of new works, including "Don't Call Me Da Vinci (Punk Version)" and "Mood (Lil Ghost Remix Explicit)", a remix of the original song by 24KGoldn featuring Iann Dior. The latter of which received wide acclaim. On 3 July, he embarked on his first concert tour, Finding Ghost, at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai.
In 2023, Wang embarked on his second concert tour, titled Deadline. In 2024, Wang joined the music variety show Melody Journey and collaborated with songwriters on "I Want to Write a Song for You" (想給你寫首歌), "Worst Kind of Love", and "The Years That Were Good to Me" (對我好的那些年).

Philanthropy

On 28 April 2018, Nine Percent directed a donation of RMB 2 million to "Beijing Hanhong Love Charity Foundation"
On 9 February 2020, during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Wang directed a donation of RMB 200,000 to Xianfeng County People's Hospital and Badong County People's Hospital
On 21 July 2021, Wang donated 200,000 yuan to the Red Cross Society of Zhengzhou when many people were trapped by heavy rain in Henan Province.